Method of knitting



Jan. 6, 1.948. E. s1'. PIERREy METHOD 0F KNITTING Filed July 27, 1946 5Sheets-Sheet 1 FIC'. Z.

Jan. 6, 1948. E. sT. PIERRE 2,433,931

. METHOD oF KNITTING l Filed July 27, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 6,1948. E. ST. PIERRE' METHOD l0F KNITTING Filed July 27, 1946 5Sheets-Sheet 3 A INI/Enne: K En; NEJZ'HE E,

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Jan. 6, 1948. 5.81'. PIERRE METHOD OF KNITTING Filed July 27, 1946 5Sheets-Sheet 4 Jan. 6, 1948; Y t E. sT. PIERRE l 2,433,931

KEQHOD OF KNITTING Filed my 2v, 1946 5 sheets-snaar s s.,f-z

M15/V701? 5 Eri EMEJZ'HERE l Patented Jan. 6, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE METHOD OF KNITTING Eugenen St. YPierre,Pawtucket, R. I.,assgnorto Hemphill "Company, Central Falls, R. I., acorporation ofMassachusetts Application July 27, 1946,- serial Nm 686,657

2' Claims. 1l

This inventionlrelates to .a new and` useful mechanism and method .forproducing', automatically, multiple yarn hosiery-upon acircular,lindependent needle, knittingmachine.

The fabric ofwhich the hosieryr concerned is made has been produced.formany years but'only in tubulary form andllargelybyhand operatedmachines. It hasthen been cut to :shape and sewed to separatelyknitheelsisoles and toes -to make stockings. Obviously, `such amethod-of production is slow. and extremelyY expensive. Stockings madein thisfway have` always ,cost `several dollars.

By the methodof this invention, stockings can be made automatically atexceedingly high speed and a fraction of the v.former cost. Alsothe-pattern possibilities are almost unlimited without special equipmentfor-making them.. Y

The production .of this fabric will be .described in connection withacircular, independent need-le,l knitting machine having a' cylinder.vandy adial but it must be understood that the invention yis not'limitedto the use of Ythemethod upon such a machine but includes two cylinderand` any other suitable type of independent need-le ma.- chine as well.Y

In the drawing:

Fig'. 1 illustrates a'stocking produced in accord.- ance with the methodof this invention;

Fig. 2A illustrates diagrammatically a greatly. enlarged section offabric showing the leoparrangement.

Figs. 3, 4, 5 and are views of a dial .mechanisrn; and

Figs. 7, 8 and ".9 are diagrammatic-illustrations of the needle andjackcams. selectors, etc., of the.

machine chosen for 'description herein.

Although the-stocking `shownin thev drawing requires; in general, fourseparately fed and sepa rately'knit yarns, .thelyarns may be Aasfewastwo toas many as -theimachine islcapableof .feeding and knitting.

The machine-f which has -been selected-for useis.provided'withlzfourSfeeds 4shown at i,- 2, 3 andf in Fig;3`spacedaround the dial and cylinder arrangedso as `tobe'able `tofeed'yarnto either dial :or cylinder needles forfbcth'. Therefore, dureing each rotation'Ofthecylinder'the knitting O 2, four courses may bein,y progress, each of a different yarn fed by a different feed.

Any desired sort of top may be used such, for example, as anautomaticallyproduced, true rib top made by independently knitting.alliour of the yarns 5, 6, 1 and 8 fed by feeds l, 2, Sland 4respectively to both the dial needles 9 and alternate cylinder needlesvl0. If ithese four yarns are of different colors, a, true rib top havingrepeated horizontal Afour coursepatterns will result.

After the top is nished, the leg is made by knitting simultaneously allfour of the yarns upon the dial needles. Without more this would simplyproduce fabric having the` birdseye appearance usual to fabric knitof'differently colcred yarns in rotation. However, patterns of almostendless variety inthe color of any of the yarns can be made anywhere inthe stocking, with therexception of the heel and toe, simply by bringingalternate cylinder needles into cooperation with the dial ,needles toknit rib fabric of the yarn having the desired color in those wales andcourses in which that particular color is to appear.

For example, Fig. 2 illustrates a piece of fabric knit 0f foul' yarns 5,6, .1 and 8 which, it will be assumed, are colored red, green, yellowand blue, respectively. All of these yarns are knit simultaneously butat four different feeds. Of these three yarns 5. 6 and 1 are knit ondial needles only whereas yarn 8 is knit on both alternate cylinderanddial needles, the cylinder needles being selected inv accordance withthe pattern. This produces the section o f thev fabric indicated by a inFig.,2 which' has the appearance of a blue stripe. Section b of Fig. 2is yellow. It is formed by knitting yarns 5, 6 and 8 on dial needlesonly and yarn 1 on both dial and selected alternate cylinder needles.The third-section c which is green is similarly made' by knitting yarns5, 1 and upon" the dial needles'on-ly and yarn S onthe dial needlesandthe appropriate alternate vcylinder needles; Section d is red as theresult of knitting-yarn 5 von both dial and cylinder needles,v theotherthree yarns being knit on dial needles only. Y

It will be evident that in the'fabric illustrated by Fig.r2, theknittingof all of the yarns by the dial needles is goingon continuouslyand that the forming ofthe pattern'bythe-dial and cylinder needles mayalso go on simultaneously at all four feeds but in different courses.The reason why the characteristic colorof the yarn knit by the dial andcylinder needlesappears von the'face- 'ofthe'fabricis that dial knitloops are depressedY 1. The white diamonds represent rib knitting I andmay be of any one or more of the colors of the yarn used. Theintermediate fabric, in this instance, is simply four feed knitting ondial needles.

When the heel is reached, the knitting of all four yarns is discontinuedand the loops on the dial needles are transferred to the alternatecylinder needles which will knit the heel. Thereafter the knitting ofthe heel by the desired number of short butt alternate cylinder needlesproceeds in the usual way.

During the narrowing and widening of the heel, the short buttI needlesare picked up and down in the usual way but since only one-half of thecylinder needles of the short butt group are in use i. e. the alternateneedles, the picking of the intermediate cylinder needles must beavoided. Consequently, the machine is so arranged that none of theneedles will be engaged by a pick unless they are previously raised topicking position by jacks. One of these jacks is shown at I I in Fig. '7below a cylinder needle I0. The jacks are provided with long and shortbutts I2 and I 3, respectively. The long butt jacks are positioned belowthe alternate cylinder needles which will knit the heel whereas theshort butt jacks are positioned below the corresponding intermediateneedles for a purpose to be described later.

When the heel is completed, knitting is again resumed at all four feedsin the manner described in connection with the leg for completing thefoot of the stocking as far as the ring toe. If a plain colored sole isdesired, one of the four yarns in use may, by proper cylinder needleselection, be brought to the outside of the fabric for the entire solesection thus giving a plain color effect although all four yarns will beincorporated in the sole fabric. Or if desired, the sole may be made bysimply knitting the four yarns in succession on the dial needles only.

When the ring toe is reached, the yarns are again transferred from allof the dial needles to the alternate cylinder needles and, in addition,the rest of the cylinder needles are brought up into knitting action byjacks I I having short butts I3 whereupon the full complement ofcylinder needles knit the ring toe in the usual manner. Thereafter, thetoe is knit by the usual group of cylinder needles in the usual way, asingle feed being used.

In this way, a stocking is automatically produced which heretofore hasbeen tailor-made by hand, a slow and expensive process. By the method ofthis invention, the knitting speed is substantially quadrupled and allhand labor and skill eliminated with the exception of the usual closingof the toe. 'I'he entire stocking is automatically produced and therange of patterns possible is only limited by the ingenuity of theknitter. No special equipment is required, the entire stocking includingany one of innumerable patterns being produced simply by controlledknitting on dial and dial and cylinder needles.

Some details of a dial mechanism suitable for knitting the fabricdescribed above are shown in Figs. 3 6. The cams which cause the dialneedles to knit are shown at I4-I'I and I4-I'I in Fig. 5. The manner inwhich such cams operate the dial needles is too well known to requiredescription here. Each of these cams is independently raisable out ofcontact with the butts of the dial needles whenever knitting at givenfeed is discontinued by means of levers I8, I9, 20 and 2| respectivelywhich are operated from any suitably timed source. The mechanism isgenerally similar to that shown in Patent #2,255,068 to which referencemay be had.

The dial is also provided with a transfer cam 22 which can be loweredinto operating position or raised to idle position at appropriate timesby a lever 23 connected to a suitable operating source. The eifect oftransfer cam 22 is to project the needles outwardly as shown in Fig. 5to an extent sufficient to clear their latches so that the loops thereonwill be cast oif after they have been engaged by the cylinder needles towhich they are to be transferred. It will also be noted from Fig. 5 thatthe dial has been shogged suciently to bring the cylinder needlesagainst the dial needles. This is a well known way of simplifying thetransfer of loops from the dial to the cylinder needles. A generaldescription of this also can be obtained from the above mentionedpatent.

The corresponding cams for operating the cylinder needles and jacks toaccomplish the knitting above described is shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9. InFig. '7 the four knitting cams which cause selected cylinder needles toknit in cooperation with the dial needles the yarn fed by one or anotherof the four yarn feeds are shown at 24, 25, 2B and 21. The correspondingjack selectors are shown at 28--3I, respectively and the master jackcams which raise the selected jacks and, consequently, the needles tolatch clearing height prior to knitting are shown at 32 to 35.

The machine is so arranged that no cylinder needles, unless they areraised by selection, will knit at any feed. Therefore, if selectors Eil-3| are of the multiple blade type such as are diagrammatically indicatedin Fig. 7 and if jacks having saw tooth butts such as those describedand claimed in U. S. Patent #2,058,481 are used substantially anydesired selection of needles can be made.

'I'he selected needles which are to knit, as above described, are raisedto the height 36 by the jacks Il at which the latches are cleared inpreparation for the next knitting operation which may occur immediatelyunder the next following knitting cam such as 25 for example. Theunselected cylinder needles are not raised by the jacks and,consequently, follow the path indicated by 31 in Fig. 7 and do not knit.

To transfer prior to knitting the heel, the needles also have to beselected. The manner in which the dial needles are prepared for transferhas already been described. The transfer operation of the cylinderneedles is shown in Fig. 8 in which the selector 29 is shown and masterjack cam 33 and also knitting cam 26. The elevation of the selectedcylinder needles by cam 33 combined with the operation of the dialneedles and the shogging of the dial heretofore described effects thetransfer of loops to the selected cylinder needles. These selectedneedles are, of course, among those heretofore described as alternateneedles which cooperate with the dial needles in knitting the fabric ofthe leg, etc.

As already stated, only the alternate cylinder needles are used forknitting the heel. Therefore, to avoid picking the intermediate needles,the jacks are provided with long butts I2 and short butts I3 as alreadyexplained. The jacks corresponding to the alternate cylinder needleshave long butts so that by moving jack cams 38 and 39 inwardly farenough to engage the long butts but insufficiently to engage the shortbutts of the other jacks that fraction of the alternate cylinder needlesrequired for knitting the heel will be elevated to picking height 4Bfrom which they can be picked up by the narrowing picks, one oi which isshown at 4I to height 42 at which they will pass over the knitting camblocks.

These same needles are lowered again 'by the usual widening picks (notshown) in the usual way with the exception that instead of widening bypicking two needles down and one up, a single needle is picked down andnone up at each picking operation. Since intermediate needles are idlethe widening picks can be constructed so that they can operate not onlyon alternate but intermediate needles when intermediate needles are inposition for picking thus making it possible to carry out the usualpicking of two down and one up during the widening of the toe.

The ring toe is knit on all of the cylinder needles. Therefore,immediately preceding the knitting of the ring toe the alternate needlesand also the remaining needles are raised to knitting height by aselecting unit such as 30. Then all of the cylinder needles will receivethe yarn for the ring toe which is knit at a single feed only, such asfeed I, by knitting cam 2'I, for example.

When the ring toe is completed. the toe is knit on one half of the totalcylinder needles, i e., the short butt needles, in the usual Way, the

picking for widening being the conventional two down and one up at eachpicking operation. As elsewhere, the needles which knit the toe areselected by jacks I I. Cams 38 and 39, now inserted fully so as toengage both long and short butts I2 and I3 of jacks II, bring all of theshort butt needles into knitting action.

The above method of knitting a stocking may be carried out upon a twocylinder machine. There will, of course, be certain differences in theway the machine operates such as transferring needles yfrom one cylinderto the other instead of transferring loops from dial to cylinder needlesbut the method remains essentially the same.

I claim:

1. A method of knitting a stocking upon a circular, independent needle,knitting machine having cylinder and dial needles which includes thesteps of knitting a leg of a plurality of yarns separately butsimultaneously knit each upon al1 of the dial needles, one or more ofsaid yarns being knit also upon cylinder needles selected to form apattern, transferring loops from dial needles to the cylinder needleswhich knit the heel, knitting the heel upon these cylinder needles,knitting the foot by resuming the separate but simultaneous knitting ofall yarns upon the dial needles and one or more of the yarns also uponcylinder needles selected to'form the desired pattern, transferring alldial loops from dial needles to cylinder needles, knitting the ring toeupon all of the `cylinder needles and knitting the toe on one half ofthe cylinder needles.

2. A method of knitting a, stocking upon a circular, independent needle,knitting machine having two sets of needles which includes the steps ofknitting a leg of a plurality of yarns separately but simultaneouslyknit each upon all of the needles of one set, one or more of said yarnsbeing knit also upon needles of the other set selected to form a patterntransferring loops from needles of the rst mentioned set to needles ofthe other set which are to knit the heel, knitting the heel upon thoseneedles, knitting the foot by resuming the separate but simultaneousknitting of all yarns upon the needles of said first mentioned set andone or more of said yarns upon needles of the other set selected to formthe desired pattern, transferring all loops from the needles of the rstset to the needles of the other set, knitting the ring toe upon theneedles of the said other set and knitting the toe upon one half of theneedles of this same set.

EUGENE ST. PIERRE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the ille ofthis patent:

Great Britain Nov. 9, 1932

